The supermini met all of CAP’s criteria for value for money, reliability and consistent desirability. Amongst their comments, the judges also said that the car pushes the boundaries for quality and reliability in the supermini sector and that the model manages to remain fresh-looking even when an update is due.

The Fiesta also performed well when it came to comparisons with its competitors in terms of depreciation. CAP measured retained figures based on the “CAP Retail” price originally paid by the owner for a 9-month-old model in January 2010 with 10,000 miles on the clock and then part-exchanged with 40,000 miles on the clock with a dealer typically offering “CAP Clean”.

The Fiesta retained 55.6%, putting it in second place overall. This compares to 56.6% for the VW Polo – which took the top spot here – and 55.0% for the Toyota Yaris, in third place.

CAP added that it is a testament to the Fiesta that despite the very large numbers of models available in the market at any time, it retains its value as a used car with remarkable consistency.

Mark Norman, of CAP, commented: ‘The Ford Fiesta is a genuinely great used car for all of the reasons we have outlined. Motorists love it because it does exactly what they want it to. Dealers love it because it provides them with a reliable and fair profit opportunity and the accolade of CAP Used Car of the Year 2012 is well deserved by the Ford Fiesta.’